Armstrong DAR Patriot of the Month

Vernon E. Umphenour honored

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Moberly Monitor-Index - Moberly, MO

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Posted Mar. 11, 2013 at 3:00 PM

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Posted Mar. 11, 2013 at 3:00 PM

Armstrong, Mo.

The members of the Armstrong Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution are pleased to honor 87-year-old Vernon E. Umphenour of Holiday Acres near Cairo, Missouri as their MSSDAR Patriot of the Month for February 2013.

Vernon was attending high school at El Monte, California when he was drafted into the Amphibious Forces of the Navy on April 29, 1944. He received boot camp at Farragut, Idaho and then was sent to an Amphibious Base at Solomons, Maryland where he served on an LCS (L)(3)6. He was also sent to Camp Bradford, an Amphibious Base at Little Creek, Virginia and then went on an LST 1077.

He was married on May 13, 1945 to Betty Hildreth who was from Cairo, Missouri, but working in Washington, DC at the Maritime Commission. He then left on an LST 1077 and went to Bayonne, New Jersey, then to Norfolk, Virginia and on through the Panama Canal headed to Pearl Harbor where he helped train a unit on deck before leaving Pearl Harbor. They left Pearl Harbor headed for Japan and were almost there when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and were continuing on to Japan when the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. When leaving for the invasion of Japan, they were told there would be two million casualties. Therefore, when it was announced on the ship the atomic bomb had been dropped, it was cause for much excitement. It was announced twice on the ship the Japanese had surrendered unconditionally. Vernon's outfit were the first ones to occupy Japan. They were twenty-some miles from Nagasaki when they landed at Wakayama, Japan. While there, they made two trips to the Philippines to take supplies. They returned to Wakayama and on to Pearl Harbor and finally to San Francisco, California and home. He received an honorable discharge on February 21, 1946 at the US Naval Personnel Separation Center located at the US Naval Base, Terminal Island, San Pedro, California. He was a Fireman First Class. Medals received were the Asiactic-Pacific Area Medal, World War II Victory Medal and the American Area Medal.

After his discharge, he and his wife came to Cairo and farmed, then moved to Kansas City in 1961 where he worked on the Wabash Railroad. Later, he started to work for TWA in 1965 and retired from there in 1983. While working at TWA, he learned how to fly a single engine plane, a Cessna 150. He and his wife relocated back to Holiday Acres at Cairo, Missouri in 2002. They have two children, Debra Mobley of Kansas City, Missouri and Roger Umphenour of Nixa, Missouri, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.